Beware of This Horse-Dumping Scam
A friend just forwarded me an ad from Craigslist that is a sorry illustration of a horse-dumping scam--one that I've been a victim of myself. Here's the ad, with the names changed:
"I am looking for Mario, who brought his horse Bert to my stable a month ago. He had his horse boarded in [neighboring state], but the stable closed down and he called and wanted a place to keep Bert. He dropped him off about 6 p.m. on a Friday night and was going to come the next day and pay the balance of the board on him. He left $100 but has not been back, and his phone numbers do not work. I cannot keep Bert here without being paid for his board, I need Mario to contact me ASAP."
I sure hope that Mario turns out to have been lying in a hospital with amnesia, and that there will be a soap-opera ending of him being reunited with his long-lost and beloved Bert.
But don't place any bets on it.
As I have learned from having been a victim, this is very likely the aftermath of a pre-meditated way of dumping a horse. Mario probably has no intentions of ever seeing Bert again. The cash he handed over was calculated to buy goodwill overnight, and was a pittance compared to what it'd cost to dispose of a horse most other ways.
Plus, nowadays, $100 won't even feed a horse well for a month. It's cheaper to hand someone a hundred bucks under false pretenses than to keep feeding the horse while looking for a legitimate next home for it.
Some people dump horses out in the desert, trusting Mother Nature to take care of them. Other people dump horses at stables, taking advantage of people's trust.
My scammer worked her deal like this:
* Responds to Yellow Pages ad we ran when we still boarded outside horses. (If you do ANY kind of boarding for people you don't know, you need to be all ears right about now.)
* Calls during a snowstorm to inquire about overnight stabling, as she was "on her way to [neighboring state] and didn't want to try going farther in the storm while towing two horses." We empathize [hard-luck story designed to tap into our kinder natures], tuck her two horses into stalls, get paid three nights' board in advance, in cash.
* An effusively grateful "Janie" [acting up a storm, it turns out] leaves us her business card [not really her business card, or her name, either, but then Mario's name probably ain't Mario], with cell number and name of local motel where she plans check in to weather out the storm. We accept this at face value ["if you can't trust horse people, who can you trust?"]
* Janie never registers at the motel, all other contact info turns out to be false, and we never see or hear from her again. [We do eventually learn her real identity, thanks to help from a brand inspector--the one who helped us through the legal process of rehoming the two horses--but by then she was long gone in that neighboring state or beyond, and out of jurisdiction].
We think of Janie, not so fondly, as our thief of trust.
It is due directly to this episode that we ceased opening our barn, even overnight, to anyone we don't know.
Especially ones with sob stories.
Labels: craigslist, dumping, scam
posted by Juli Thorson @ 2:00 PM
17 comments
17 Comments:
Wow. I get such an education on the Internet. I would totally have fallen for that! Absolutely. That is a crazy way to dump a horse, but I guess it works... amazing to me, the things people do. Thanks for the heads up, I will beware..
Mikey,
Thanks for identifying, instead of scolding about "should have known better." (As if we did no beat ourselves up enough over shouda-coulda-woulda, which is part of the victim experience).
But then, you've seen some of what else is going on out there.
There's Sugarfoot dumped out in the desert. Keller at the auction in Idaho. Bert at the stable in the Craigslist ad. The breeding stock Paint and the papered Arabian mare left with me (her freeze brand connected her to her real identity). The horses left on the road to Shiloh Horse Rescue.
The value system has shifted so much that it's like Mad Max Horse World.
How sad that someone could heartlessly leave their horse with someone, knowing that they are (a) dumping their animal without regard to the poor animal & (b) creating a stressfull & financial situation for an other person.
Horse dumping along with cat & dog abandoning is just deplorable & cold hearted.
Yup, sadly this is one of the first things you learn when you run a livery / boarding / training business: always get references, never do last minute dropoffs, and don't believe anyone on anything. I used to be so much less cynical, but I got taken a time or two!
A friend of mine used to board out her spare pasture and stabling to people as space for small equestrian businesses, and she once had a guy cut and run over Christmas / New Year, leaving her with 26, (soon to be 31) starved Arabs on her hands. Horrendous business, and she had a hell of a job sorting it out. Because she had an equestrian business, the RSPCA seemed to think that she ought to just 'take them on'.
I'm saddened to hear that your good will was taken advantage of. It's just a shame that you can't take anyone on their word anymore
We have a similar problem with dogs getting dumped on our farm- hence the tag name. :) It's always makes me so sad to see the way people "care" for their trusting creatures. We raise and train Westies, so I guess people think we will raise and train their unwanted dogs. And I suppose they are right, because that's what we do.
We haven't had to take on a dumped horse, but the stories I hear about the way horses are sometimes treated make me ill.
Julie- that is a new one on me. I ran a boarding stable for nine years, and only had one horse 'dumped', but it wasn't anything like what happened to you.
I guess it was actually the horses lucky day-they could have ended up on a plate somewhere- and you were able to find them a home. You should feel good about that - to the dumpers- may they have a long lingering sickness crash down upon them and die the death of many small stinging wounds.
Having those two horses dumped on us was one of the biggest nightmares I have had to deal with, ever, where horses are concerned.
By state statute, we had to go unpaid for 60 days before we could even initiate the legal process of getting the horses off our property. So not only did we have to feed these two for over two months at our expense, we also could not rent their stalls to owners who WEREN'T scammers.
Then, state statutes also required that the horses be confiscated by a state brand inspector and sold at the nearest and soonest public auction. And we all know who the main buyers tend to be at such auctions. Had a few sleepless nights over that, let me tell you.
The majority of the proceeds from sale of the two horses went into the state's animal welfare fund--again, per state statute. We received a nominal payment of a couple of dollars a day per head for feeding and caring for "Janie's" horses after falling for her scamming story.
The financial hit was not as bad as the emotional one. It's never fun to be someone's victim, especially when they have preyed upon your trust and kindness.
Horse dumping is just one of worry a horse owner has these days. Horse, tack and trailer theft is on the rise. We have been receiving more reports of tail cuttings and butchering of horses in their stalls or after they have been stolen. Horse owners need to be aware of all of these situations so they can protect themselves and their horses. --Debi Metcalfe, Stolen Horse International, www.netposse.com
Juli,
Last year my dad decided he wanted to open up our barn to taken in a few boarders (empty stalls = extra money, right??). While I live in another state, I still helped him with posting ads, etc. Working in the business that I do (another horse magazine), I started hearing about people dumping horses that they want "boarded" and I knew my parents wouldn't be able to handle such a problem if they allowed random people to board their horses--so I advised my dad to be very careful.
Instead of having empty stalls, he opened them up so our mares have bigger stalls, which they appreciate. I told him if someone he knows or has a connection with wants to board, that may be a different story.
It's so scary what some people are desperate enough to go.
Megan
Thanks, Debi. More good info to get the word out on.
Wow, Even though the rules in Calif are similar as afar as the 60 day, no pay, you do all you can to track down the owner etc, here you don't have to have a brand inspector take possession. You can sell the horse to anyone, or take it to the auction. My girlfriend just had a non paying border at her place and it was also a nightmare. This A#$hat was (operative word WAS) a friend, known to her and made her jump through all the hoops, and then just before the 60 days was over, he showed up with a horse transport and the sheriff to take back his horse! Needless to say my friend never recieved her back board, feed or hours spent agonizing over the mess- back. And we are sure he'll do this to someone else too. What really sucks is thatmy friend can't warn anyone about him and can't do anything accept file through small claims court to get her money, and here in the Bay Area, judges aren't very sympathetic to animal owners.
Thanks for the good post- it was full of information even though it was a cautionary tale!
Vaquero, I feel your friend's pain.
It is awful to have a horse dumped on you. Law enforcement does little to help you, you go through emotional upheaval, you feel betrayed, it hurts your pocketbook...I could go on.
This post has been removed by the author.
I'm a little late here, but still want to add. I worked for a family who raised and boarded horses.
They had all new boarders sign a contract agreeing to turn the horse over to them for resale if they got over 60 days behind on their board.If they didn't want to sign they didn't want them as boarders. They never had to take anyones horse (they would always work with people in trouble) but they could.
It worked.
Many years ago I had a guy bring a horse out to board and two cats. I asked if the cats had their shots and he said yes. He never paid for the horse so after two months I called and told him it was tied outside to a post and he better come get him (actually I was feeding it). Finally the sheriff took the horse off our property. Then I found a dead cat and my daughter who was 4 was holding her hand. The cat died of rabies and she had to have the shots. I will never board again. It just is not worth it to us. We haved helped some friends out but only for a few days. It just is not worth the risk or the headaches.
We do have problems with dogs being dropped off. Just can not understand why people do that.
We will continue to have these problems until we can go back to being able to take horses we can not take care of or afford to a horse sale. The banning of horse slaughter and the economy is really hurting the horse industry.
Just my opinion - so please don't start yelling at me. Thanks.
A friend of friend trailered his two horses to a great spot for trail riding, and upon his return found two horses tied to his 4-horse trailer with an apologetic yet heartbreaking note saying they could no longer afford to keep them and it looked like this trailer owner could...
Post a Comment
<< Home